Heated seat



July 2, 1957 G. P. MANCIN HEATED SEAT Filed June 8, 1955 INVENTORz GIUSEPPE P. MANCIN AT TOR NE YS.

HEATED SEAT Giuseppe Piero Mancin, Zumaglia, Italy Application June 8, 1955, Serial No. 514,051

Claims. (Cl. 219-20) The present invention has'for its object a heated seat, especially for water closets, the heating of which can be achieved electrically, or by the circulation of hot water or, again, by means of superheated steam or gas, the electrical resistances or the appropriate circulation piping thereof being arranged in the seat, for the purpose of preventing sensations of cold when the sanitary fitting is used. In said systems, the heating can be regulated automatically or by hand.

The accompanying drawing shows, by way of example,

a diagrammatic embodiment of the invention, in which the seat is heated electrically by means of electrical resistances incorporated therein and which may be switched on alternately or simultaneously by means of an electromechanical device which regulates, automatically or manually, the time during which the resistance or resistances is or are switched on.

According to the invention and the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, 1 indicates the seat of a water closet in which are incorporated two electrical resistances, a main one 2 and a secondary one 3. The resistances 2, 3 are connected, by means of leads, to an electromechanical device enclosed in a suitable casing (not shown), comprising a general, double-stage switch 4, 5 with a spacer-tie rod 6 and a pointer 7 designed to establish contact between the plates or strips 3, 9 and Ill, 11, or between 8, 12-46, 13-15, 15. To the contact plate or strip 15 is connected the cathode 16 of the mercury switch 17 pivoted at 18, provided at its ends with two extensions 20, 20' and engaging the tooth 19 by means of said extension 2%), which tooth is fast with the lever 21 fulcrumed at 22 and having one end 23 forming a plate and the other attached to the return spring 24. The other cathode 25 is connected, by means of a lead 26, to an electric motor 27 and to the electromagnet 23 and returns, by means of another lead 29, to the main current arrival line. The electromagnet 28 has its core 29 fulcrumed at 30 on the double-forked lever 32 which, in turn, is fulcrumed at one end at 31 and is attached at the other to the return spring 33 and to the small rod or stem 34 carrying the plate or strip 35 designed to come into contact with the other plate or strip 36 so as to close the electric circuit by means of the plug and socket 37 and 38, respectively. The central part of the lever 31 (sic) formed with a double fork is provided with two coaxial pins 39 which engage in an annular groove 40 formed in a sleeve 41 fast with one half 42 of a clutch having front dogs or teeth, while the other half 43 is secured to a gear 44. The sleeve 41 and the half 42 of the clutch are keyed, by means of a spline or key 48', to the shaft 43, on which rotate loosely the other half 43 and the gear 44.

When the electromagnet 28 comes into action, the motor 27 starts up and by means of the reduction gear 45, actuated by the shaft 46 of the motor, sets in motion the pinion 47 coupled with the gear 44, thus causing the shaft 48 to rotate in the direction of the arrow. At one end of the shaft 48, in correspondence with the lever 21, there is 2,798,142 Patented July 2, 1957 keyed, by means of a setscrew 49, the bush or socket 50 provided with a projecting rod 51 designed to displace the plate-like end of the lever 21, and a spiral return spring 52 is fulcrumed by one end at 53 and by the other at 54. On the shaft 43 there turns loosely the gear 55 actuated through the chain transmission 56 by a stepup pinion 57 keyed to one end of the spindle 58 supported at 59, the other end of which terminates in the knob 60. The spindle 58 rotates in the support 59 with a slight friction At the side of the gear 55 there is keyed, by means of the screw 61, a second bush or socket 62 provided with a projecting rod 63 which engages the peg 64 secured to the gear 55, while the top of said shaft 48 is tapered and is threaded at 65 and to said top is fixed, by means of the button or knob 67, a pointer 66 for indicating the duration in seconds of the switching-on of the main resistance.

Fuses 68, 69, 7d are inserted in the electric circuit to safeguard the vital parts of the installation. Between the input leads there is disposed a condenser 71 and along the lead 72 there is arranged a push button 73, while in a suitable position on the lead 74 there is installed a secondary switch 75.

As was said at the beginning, the duration of switchingon can be regulated automatically or manually by the user. Both the systems atiord the possibility of obtain ing the heating by the main resistance 2 or by the main resistance 2 and the secondary resistance 3 at the same time. After automatic or manual heating of the seat 1 has been obtained, the current is out off and the main reistance 2 switched off by the first system; with the second system, when the current is cut off by opening the electric circuit the main resistance 2 is switched off and the secondary resistance 3 remains switched on and the switching-oil of the latter is obtained by hand operation of the general switch 4, 5, which can assume three positions: 76,77, 78; the central position '77 corresponds to the inoperative condition of the apparatus, the position 76 to manual operation, while the position 73 corresponds to automatic operation. Regulation of the duration of switching-on of the resistances 2 and/ or 3 can be obtained in relation to the room temperature and therefore operation necessary for controlling the assembly is limited solely to the general switch 4, 5 to be placed in the desired position.

In the case where manual operation is desired, it is necessary to actuate, in addition to the general switch 4, 5, the push button 73, which keeps the resistance 2 switched on for the entire period during which the push button is depressed. The duration of the automatic heating of the resistance 2 is obtained by means of the knob 64) designed to actuate the indicating pointer 66. When the apparatus is set in operation, the pointer 66, starting from the position imparted to it, is slowly displaced, by virtue of the driving gear 27 and the electromagnet 28, towards zero; in said position, the mechanism is released, carrying the pointer back to the original position and switching off the main resistance 2. Connection of the secondary resistance 3 is effected by means of a secondary switch '75.

The apparatus is inoperative when the pointer '7 of the general switch 4, 5 is in the position '77 (shown in the drawing). By moving said switch to the position 76, contact is established between the plates 8, 9 and It 11 and on pressing the push button 73 hand operation is obtained, that is to say the electric circuit of the lead 72 is closed, the resistance 2 being switched on. When it is desired to switch on the resistance 3, the secondary switch 75 will be actuated. Conversely, by moving the switch 4, 5 so that the pointer 7 is brought into the position '73, the contacts 8, 12-40, 13 and i4, 15 are established, automatic operation being obtained: in this case,

the electric current is branched off in three directions, one of which passes through the lead 79 and heats the resistance 3, the circuit being closed by means of the switch 75; the second passes through the lead 80 and is stopped at the socket 38; the third, passing through the contacts 14, 15, actuates the automatic device, inasmuch as the current passes through the cathode 16 of the switch 17 containing mercury 17 and, therefore, through the other cathode 25 actuates the motor 27 and consequently the electromagnet 28, returning to the line through the lead 29. The electromagnet 28, drawing towards itself the core 29 fulcrumed at 30 to the lever 31 (sic), places the two plates 35, 36 in contact and closes the circuit between the plug 37 and the socket 38, thus switching on the resistance 2. At the same time, the displacement of the lever 30 and the sleeve 41 causes the sliding on the shaft 48 of the clutch half 42 and the coupling of the half 43 of the front dog-type clutch. The reduction gear 45, actuating the gears 47, 44, causes the shaft 48 to rotate in the direction of the arrow, due to the said dog clutch, until the rod 51 strikes against the plate 23, thus disengaging the tooth 19 of the lever 21 and releasing the extension 20, so that the mercury switch (being fulcrumed beyond the centre of gravity) is tilted and opens the electric circuit, stopping the operation of the motor 27 and of the electromagnet 28, so that the lever 31 (sic) returns to the original position restored by the spring 33. Consequently, the contacts 35, 36 are disconnected, the current is cut off, the resistance 2 is switched off and the two halves 42, 43 of the dog clutch are disengaged, while the shaft 48, restored by the spiral spring 53, returns to its original position. This position is delimited by the peg 64 secured to the gear 55, against which peg the projecting rod 63 carried by the bush 62 rigid with the shaft 48 strikes and is stopped. As the gear 55 is mounted loosely on the shaft 48, its original position determining the duration of heating of the resistance 2 can be varied at will. When the apparatus is inoperative, the pointer 66 indicates the seconds of the heating time and when said pointer arrives at the zero mark of the dial (not shown) the mercury switch is tilted, cuts off the current and the pointer returns to the original position. The shaft 48, on returning to its original position, releases the lever 21, which also returns to its original position, restored by the spring 24. By now moving the general switch 4, 5 to the position 77, the extension 20' of the mercury switch 17 is raised and restores the switch to its original position (see drawing), thus engaging the opposite extension 20 in the hook or claw 19, so that the entire device is in an inoperative state ready to be actuated afresh.

A pilot lamp can be inserted in the electric circuit and be lit up when the switch is actuated by hand.

I claim:

1. An electrically heated water closet seat comprising a seat member, a main electrical heating resistance incorporated in the seat member, a connection between one end of the main heating resistance and one pole of a current source, a multi-position switch in series circuit with the other end of the main heating resistance and the other pole of the current source, a push-button switch, and a time switch, said multi-position switch having an operative position in which the series circuit including the main heating resistance and the source of current is completed through the push-button switch for manual control of heating of the seat, and another operative position in which the series circuit including the main heating resistance and the source of current is completed through the time-switch for automatic control of the heating of the seat.

2. An electrically heated water closet seat comprising a seat member, a main electrical heating resistance incorporated in the seat member, a connection between one end of the main heating resistance and one pole of a current source, a multi-position switch in series circuit with the other end of the main heating resistance and the other pole of the current source, a push-button switch, and an electrically-driven time-switch,'the multi-position switch having a first operative position in which it completes a series circuit including the push-button switch, the main heating resistance and the other pole of the current source, and a second operative position in which it completes a series circuit including the time-switch, the main heating resistance and the other pole of the current source, said multi-position switch in its second operative position completing a circuit including the current source and the time-switch.

3. 'An electrically heated Water closet seat, as claimed in claim 2, wherein the electrically-driven time-switch comprises an electric motor and a mercury tilt switch loaded into off position both being arranged in a series circuit with the multi-position switch, a shaft, an electrically-operable clutch connected in parallel with the motor and arranged to couple the motor to the shaft, a spring-loaded catch adjacent the tilt-switch to normally hold it in on position, a radius arm on the shaft disposed adjacent the tilt switch and arranged to abut against and release the spring-loaded catch from engagement with the tilt-switch for release of the latter into off position, and a mechanical coupling between the multi-position switch and the tilt-switch for movement of the tilt-switch into nontilted on" position at each time of movement of the multi-position switch out of its second operative position.

4. An electrically heated water closet seat, as claimed in claim 3, including a stationary structure for the time switch, a spring coupled to the shaft and a fixed point of the structure of the time switch and tending to rotate the radius arm away from the tilt-switch catch, another radius arm on the shaft, and a stop adjustable in a circular path adjacent the second radius arm and serving to limit rotation of the shaft in the direction of movement of the first radius arm away from the catch, thereby to permit adjustment of the period of operation of the motor necessary to release the tilt-switch.

5. An electrically heated water closet seat, as claimed in claim 1, including a secondary heating resistance incorporated in the seat member, a manual switch connected between one pole of the current source and one end of the secondary resistance, the other end of the secondary resistance being coupled to contacts of the multi-position switch providing a connection to the other pole of the current source in each of its operative positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,055,160 Gasiorowski Mar. 4, 1913 2,202,095 Delhaye et'al May 28, 1940 2,219,044 7 Horr Oct. 22, 1940 2,653,213 Comstock Sept. 22, 1953 2,706,767 Packchanian Apr. 19, 1955 

